We've discussed how to drive safely using your cellphone, but recently a flurry of tickets are going out to people who barely touch their devices while operating a motor vehicle. If you get ticketed unjustly, here's what you can do.

The National Transportation Safety Board has voted to recommend that states ban the use of…
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What's Happening

Severalnewsstories all over the United States are demonstrating the high volume of tickets that are being issued to supposedly distracted drivers. Brett, our awesome design intern, was hit with a ticket for changing a song on his iPod while gridlocked on the highway. His car wasn't moving, but he still wound up with a $130 violation. This is just one of many instances that demonstrates how strictly these distracted driver laws are being applied. If you changed a song on your stereo you wouldn't get a ticket, but because that dial is on a mobile device you'll get in trouble. While we don't encourage any significant use of your device while driving, we think this is a little extreme.

What You Can Do

So what can you do? Try using voice control on your device if you have it. Android phones have voice control built-in, and if you're without Siri on your iPhone or have an iPod touch you can give Vokul a try. It's really great for voice control in the car. In the event you wind up with a ticket, it's one you should be able to easily contest under the right circumstances. If you were sending a text message in the car you're not going to get out of that one easily, as you shouldn't be texting while driving, but changing a song while stopped is another story. Simply showing up in court to contest the ticket might be enough, as the officer who wrote that ticket may not want to bother coming to court. That results in a default win for you. In the event you actually have to make a case, however, you should read up on the exact law that landed you a violation in the first place. Sometimes the language is pretty specific and it might apply to cellphones but not, say, a portable music player. It might refer to texting but not changing music. Be sure to read up on the law in your state as it might provide a way out.